Hand Plane Restoration

Hi everyone. Thanks to the community of LJs here I recently took a wild left from almost buying and restoring an antique Delta 6” jointer to buying a #6 T11 Stanley hand plane. :oD

I recently got this beauty in the mail.

I am intending to do a complete cleaning and restoration. I will be taking it step by step since this will be my first restoration and I am looking for advice on how to properly care for it. So far I cleaned the iron and iron cap in evaporust. I took some 320 and 400 grit sand paper to it after washing the solution off and this is what I got:

I also cleaned the lever cap and sanded it to a similar light-med. grey.

My first question is….where do I take it from here? I intend to use this, but I would like to maintain at least some of the appeal of the originality. Should I get out all of the pits and shine this up like a mirror with higher grits, or just leave it as is and sharpen? Part of my concern is that there is a huge amount of pitting at the top of the iron right at the stamped logo, so you can barely tell what the stamp says as is. If I sand it that is essentially going to be wiped out. Is it worth the money to go buy a similar vintage iron in better shape or is that stupid? I’ve never had tools to take pride in so I’m not sure how all out to go. I did just purchase a “new” tote for it off eBay since the one on it is broken. I hope the #5 tote will fit a #6.

Also, the iron is sharpened such that when the logo is facing up the bevel is down and the flat of the blade is against the iron cap. Is this correct?

Does anyone have experience with the wooden tote and knob? I would like to make them mostly smooth again, but don’t want to sand them down to nothing. What color were they originally? I see some that look really well cleaned that are black but most are a sort of super dark brown (I’m guessing from age).

What do you guys like to see/do?

45 replies so far

Google hand plane restoration.You have a long way to go, but it is doable.Might wanna find a cap iron and iron that is in better condition. Those look pretty rough. The Bay has ‘em all the time, and some are pretty reasonable. Same with the tote. The knob doesn’t look too bad from the pic.I have no idea as to why the cap iron is ground away like it is.Bill

Next step is checking sole for flatness and condition of mouth area (no pic of that assuming its ok).Squaring sides required if using as shooting plane.

Many times this is where the resto stops because if a machine shop is needed, have to weight cost.

Clean up mating surfaces of frog/check lever for slop.

If all that checks out address the blade.If heavily pitted, I recommend an aftermarket either Hock or LV. You may want to do that anyway the cap iron/blade combos are superior to stock Stanely.If you want to re-jappan it, media blasting is a great way to prep.If you use chemicals to strip or clean make SURE you’ve through removed before painting…..

Iron: Grinder to get rid of the “mushroom” on the end. Logo goes out, bevel is down. I’d try to grind a better, straighter edge, but a little curve at the ends isn’t too bad. The non beveled flat should be just that, flat. One can polish it to a mirror shine..

Chipbreaker: try to mate it to the iron, without any gaps where the edges meet. One can back-bevel the CB a bit, to almost a knife edge where it meets the iron. Polish the curved part, shavings will flow better over it.

face of the frog. Needs to be just as flat as the iron. Sand or file to get it that way. Underneath. Remove any paint where the frog meets the base. Check to make sure the frog does not rock. Wire wheel the threads to clean them up. If there are washers on the frog bolts, clean them as well. Couple drops od light oil down into the holes where the bolts go.

Sole: Sharpie to draw a bunch of lines across the sole. Sand the sole until they are all gone. Sole should then be flat enough to work. Sides: Can be shined up mirror bright. I’d check to see if they are 90 degrees to the sole. It is needed IF you are using the plane as a shooting board plane, otherwise..no. Wire wheels to clean the worse of the rust off the base. Ford Engine Black by Rustoleum to touch up any bare metal.

handles: Usually are either a Rosewood ( red & black stripes) or a stained hardwood ( dark brown) or painted black. depends on how old it is. The newer ones were painted, the older ones were fancier.

Brasso and wire wheels to shine the brass parts.

Re-install the frog: Have a thin ruler handy. Loosely install the frog. Use the ruler to make a coplanar surface along the frog and out the mouth. You want the iron to be supported the entire way. Chipbreaker to within a 1/64 of the corners of the edge of the iron. Lever cap with the lever snapped down, tighten the bolt that holds it in place, Do not torque it down. You want it tight, but you want to be able to adjust the depth of cut.

Lateral lever: has a way of being in the way. It needs to be it the slot in the iron, otherwise there will be a gap. run the wheel for depth adjust all the way forward, then back off until the plane just barely starts to make a shaving.

Thanks rwe. That is very helpful. I don’t know what a shooting plane is, I’m intending this to be used as a jointer.

The blade is pretty pitted at the top, but the bottom seems fine. That’s why I’m torn between shining all of it up or leaving it a satin grey. And I believe you want a perfectly straight edge for jointing (that will be the use of this plane) so I need to remove the existing curved edge. But I believe the blade is usable.

The sole looks good aside from rusting near the heel of it. I am praying it’s not pitted. It is corrugated so if there is putting in the corrugations I’m not going to stress over that. But the mouth looks good from what I can tell. At least, I didn’t find any cracks or chips near it. I am thinking for the main casting to just dunk it in evaporust and then wax it. I will be lapping down the sides and sole but that is all I intend to touch. I don’t plan on messing with the japanning.

But of course all that above is the reason I am considering this a step by step restore. I haven’t decided how finely to sand everything. I don’t want to overdo anything, but for example, I read somewhere that even if you don’t bring the blade and cap iron to a mirror finish you should make it shine down near the bump so that it shaves better.

Thanks bandit. Sorry if some of my above comment mentions things you addressed in your response. I had actually typed that before you replied. I must’ve waited too long to hit post, because I didn’t see your response before posting it.

I am hoping this “hand planes in the workshop” class I’m taking at the nearest Woodcraft is helpful. Their description says that it covers restoration so I may hold off on some of this work until the class. But I originally intended to at least have this in working condition before the class. The problem is all those sharpening stones are quite expensive if you want something good.

Where do you guys get all your really high grit sandpapers? Anytime I look in stores I only see up to around 800 as a max.

Thanks Don, I think I’ve read that one. I have actually seen a lot of these restoration pages. Part of my question relates to what to do and what not to do. I want opinions on such things as should I sand that iron to remove all the pitting, or leave as is so you can somewhat faintly see the original 100 year old Stanley stamp…or as suggested go buy a new iron. My questions relate less to the physical process and more to the philosophical. For example, I know how to sand the iron, my question is how much. Likewise is it better to restore the existing or replace with likely better functioning? I know how to sand wood, my question is how far and what to treat with after. I know how to polish brass, my question is how polished should it be. rwe and bandit have provided some very helpful advice. I was hoping more for a discussion though. I am not looking for tutorials or blogs.

Level of restoration varies by individual. Some people like a shiny new look, so would polish up the brass til it gleams, refinish the wood with shellac or lacquer so it’s glossy and sand all the iron and steel to an almost mirror polish. Others do just enough so the plane works well, and not a bit more, and there is a whole continuum in between.

Personally, I like to keep some of the patina and history and don’t want to spend too much time on one plane, but also want one that is usable and looks decent. On one like yours, I’d probably try to clean up the original japanning and wax it. If the japanning is less than 60% or so, then I’d strip and refinish. I also don’t like film finish on the wood, so if it can’t be kept original, will sand off the original finish and use an oil finish and wax. For the iron, all I care about is the cutting end, so work out the pits and flatten the last couple inches toward the cutting edge. Pits up higher don’t really affect anything. It’s nice to still be able to see the original logo.

That’s me. Others will take it much, much farther or do even less. I’ve seen some that they sanded the iron and steel up to a mirror polish. Those guys must have more time than me. It’s your plane now and not a rare collectible. How do you want it to look?

BTW, if you can’t find it at a hardware store, auto parts stores generally carry up to 1500 or 2000 grit sandpaper.

-- In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.

Im a minimalist rehabber myself. Get the rust off, tune and sharpen. Don’t worry about pitting unless its at the cutting edge. If im going to clean up the knob and tote I use a card scraper and even a knife to get into the bends. From there I go rubbed on shellac but that’s just my preference. BLO, Danish oil, tung oil will all work.

Find what makes you happy. If you want to spend weeks shining it up, go for it. If you want to spend a couple hours. go for it.

I think it’s all been covered pretty well to this point. I’d just emphasize the need for a new chipbreaker whether you replace the iron or not. The angle ground on yours won’t let you sit it close enough to the cutting edge to get rid of chatter and get an effective break. And for a router, you won’t want any camber on the iron.

As for knobs and totes, I like to clean them down to the bare wood (think yours is rosewood). I use a card scraper on the tote to remove most of the finish and finish it off with sandpaper. For the tote, I mount it between nuts on a 1/4-20 rod and chuck it up in the drill press and use 120 sandpaper to remove the finish then 220 to finish it. Then I like a couple of coats of BLO. That’s strictly personal preference though. You’re not going to get improved performance, I just like the look and feel of it and it only takes a few minutes. For the busted tote, you can make a new one pretty easily with a bandsaw and a couple of rasps or replace it. Or if it doesn’t hinder your grip, you can leave it like it is.

Speaking of the sand paper…..When lapping the sole, how do you deal with the paper since they generally only come in 9×11 sheets? It seems using only one sheet could lead to an uneven lapping. Do you glue them next to each other? I found some rolls and belts that could be cut but they generally only go to around 400 grit and are quite expensive.

In response to the chipbreaker comments I keep seeing….what is the issue with the chipbreaker? Is it the fact that the front edge appears to not be perfectly parallel to the iron edge? It does need ground down some to make better contact with the blade, but generally, to me at least it seems pretty straight.

If I need to replace it can I use a new chipbreaker with this existing blade or do I need a new blade to match the chipbreaker?

And yes I have the rosewood pieces. I did in fact just order a “new” set of vintage tote and knob off ebay that isn’t broken. What would Stanley originally have done with these pieces?

Speaking of the sand paper…..When lapping the sole, how do you deal with the paper since they generally only come in 9×11 sheets? It seems using only one sheet could lead to an uneven lapping. Do you glue them next to each other? I found some rolls and belts that could be cut but they generally only go to around 400 grit and are quite expensive.

- Jeffjr02

First, does the sole really need flattening? Unless it’s way out and affects how the plane performs, the only sanding I do on a sole any more is to remove rust. As long as the key areas are pretty much co-planar, you are good to go. Those areas are the toe, heel and right in front of the mouth. If the sole is a bit concave between those areas, it’s not an issue. If it is convex, it’s a huge issue.

If the sole really does need work, I use sanding rolls. You could also use a belt sander belt cut apart. Either way, you definitely do not need to go above 400, unless you are going for mirror finish. I usually only take plane bodies up to 220 and call it good.

-- In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.